The invention relates to a brush which can be used to take a smear from the endocervical canal. In the current prior art such a smear is taken with, for example, the so-called cytobrush, put on the market by the company Medscand. The cytobrush is in the form of a woven metal wire, between which nylon hairs are woven on the front side. The nylon hairs are cut to the correct length with a blunt instrument, as a result of which there are often sharp ends on the hairs. A disadvantage of the woven metal wire is that said wire is stiff and can damage tissue if it is wrongly used.
When a smear is being taken, it is important for cells to be collected both from the outside of the cervix, the so-called ectocervical cells, and from the endocervical canal, the endocervical cells. Most abnormalities which can develop into cancer cells occur at the transition between these two areas. If the transition zone is situated far in, which is the case in, for example, older women, it is difficult to collect cell tissue from the transition zone. A specific endocervical sampler, such as the abovementioned Medscand cytobrush, is then used for this purpose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,113 discloses a brush comprising an elongated handle and a brush head placed on the handle, which brush head comprises a mandrel lying in line with the handle, and brush hairs which run substantially parallel placed on the mandrel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,376 discloses a brush which is in fact the same as the earlier so-called cytobrush. It is known from this document that the brush can have approximately 600 brush hairs with a thickness of approximately 0.06 mm. These brush hairs are placed in a helical pattern around the brush end of handle 4. The nylon brush hairs are wedged between two twisted wires and thereby acquire a radial position. The distance between adjacent brush hairs then decreases from the base towards the outside.